Messages - Laura Shook

While ThumbsPlus does support over 100 different file types, there are some that can't be internally supported due to availability of libraries, how difficult the libraries are to understand and work with, and a few because they are proprietary - which means that we have no way to offer support.

However, there are options included in ThumbsPlus v10 that allow for the creation of thumbnails even if the format isn't internally supported. After the list below I have included more information.

The most common formats that I am currently asked about are:

webp - Support for .webp will be included in ThumbsPlus v11

heic/heif - Support for .heic and .heif will be included in ThumbsPlus v11

svg - While we plan to add support for .svg files,, this support will not make it into the initial v11 release, but in a maintenance build sometime after

cdr - Old .cdr files that contained a thumbnail preview are supported. The newer .cdr files are not written in the same manner and are not internally supported

cr3 - This is a new Canon raw file type that will be supported as soon as the libraries we use for the Digital Camera Plug-in are updated.

1. If Windows Explorer shows thumbnails for a file format that is not internally supported by ThumbsPlus, if you set up the file type configuration for that type and use NONE for the file loading option, ThumbsPlus will pick up the thumbnail from Windows itself.

ThumbsPlus is usually able to pick up the thumbnail that Windows creates for any file type if you configure it to load using "none". For some reason ThumbsPlus can't grab the webp thumbnails that Windows creates and I don't know why.

ThumbsPlus v11 will support the webp file type. (I wish they would have just stuck with .jpg or .png.)

I have a couple of customers that are using the "Make from clipboard" option for webp files. Once this is set up and the thumbnail is created, you will then have thumbnails and will be able to right click the thumbnail and go to "edit" to open the file in the associated program. You can do without having the thumbnail created now. To add webp, go to Options>Preferences>File types>New and set load file using to "none", edit to "association".

I will post a FAQ as soon as I have a few minutes (with illustrations)!

The default size of the thumbnails in ThumbsPlus v10 SP2 is 160 x 160.

You have control of how large to create your thumbnails. There are 2 different options to increase (or reduce) the thumbnail size.

1. There is a % option at the top of the menu that will increase the thumbnail area. (NOTE that this only stretches the thumbnails, which doesn't give you as nice of a view than actually increasing the thumbnails size in OPTIONS>PREFERENCES>THUMBNAILS.)

If you wish to stretch the thumbnails and not regenerate them at a larger size, change the % size at the top of the ThumbsPlus interface then go to OPTIONS>PREFERENCES THUMBNAIL VIEW> and turn on the "stretched" option in order for the thumbnails to stretch to fit the new thumbnail area.

Please try the following for problems with speed changing folders or building file lists:

1. Turn off "Make thumbnails automatically" from Options>Preferences>Thumbnails. (If this is on, ThumbsPlus will scan for thumbnails each time you go to another folder.)

2. You may have "Watch changes in folders" selected in Options>Preferences>Thumbnail View. Turn this option OFF to disable ThumbsPlus watching for updated, new or deleted files in the current folder. This may improve performance in folders with many files.

3. If you have selected folders to be watched in Tree>Watch folders, ThumbsPlus WILL continuously watch all of the folders you have set up in this manner. You may want to remove any watched folders that you have configured.

4. Turn off the option that shows folders in the thumbnail view. This is an option that isn't used often and was added in the program for a customization job. It could possibly slow things down.

5. If you are using a Network license and your network is slow, then ThumbsPlus will be slow as well as it can't run faster than the network allows.

6. If you are having an EXTREME speed issue, and if this database has been converted from an old version, AND you are showing User Fields in the thumbnail view note that the Date Time Orig UDF is no longer valid, should NOT be used and WILL cause this exact problem.

Please choose to NOT show the Date Time Orig UDF in the thumbnail view. Then you can create a new user field with another date criteria as shown in the attached image. If this does indeed fix the issue, remove the Date Time Orig User Field and you can choose to show udf's in the thumbnail view once again. (Any other fields, including new date fields can be shown in the thumbnail view without issues.)

Different e-mail programs handle how they determine if something is SPAM in different ways.

1. Lately even when I respond to an e-mail sent directly to me, my replies can end up in a SPAM folder. I know that gmail does this and I am sure that there are others.

Please whitelist thumbsplus.com in your e-mail options!

2. Very recently I have been getting bounce messages when sending replies or registration codes because the content of my message indicates that I am sending SPAM. I have tried every variation of registration information to no avail. When I don't have a phone number for the customer I have had to resort to sending registration codes or answers to other inquires in a .pdf file. This has happened at least 20 times in the past month. (However, that doesn't work if thumbsplus.com is being flagged and our e-mail is being placed in the SPAM folder of the person asking for assistance. In this case, we must be whitelisted.)

If you do not receive a reply to an e-mail within 2 business days, (usually you will receive a reply the same day you ask for assistance if it is sent during business hours), please check your SPAM folder!

3. I have been receiving e-mail from weird outlook addresses similar to "outlook_70BBXXXXCBB7 @outlook.com" I don't know if these messages are being sent via some web page or through an actual e-mail program but my replies will NOT arrive as every single time I respond my reply bounces. If the person sending the message in this manner uses their name I look them up in my customer database and attempt to send my answer to the e-mail address I have, but if you don't use your name there is no way for me to successfully reply to messages sent in this manner. (And if you haven't whitelisted thumbsplus.com, my answers are sitting in a SPAM folder.) This happens often!! AFTER whitelisting us, please re-send your message if you don't find my reply in your SPAM folder.

4. In rare cases our support system software will tag something as SPAM. There is no rhyme or reason and when I do my bi-monthly checks of the auto SPAM folders I find one or two real messages in the hundreds of thousands of actual SPAM. To avoid this, please use "ThumbsPlus" in the subject line of your e-mail.

1. MOST likely your registration information is sitting in a SPAM folder. PLEASE whitelist thumbsplus.com in your e-mail options so that you can receive our e-mail!

2. ThumbsPlus orders are processed manually during business hours. If your order is placed after hours your registration information will be e-mailed the next business day.

3. Sometimes old e-mail addresses are used by PayPal when your orders are sent to us. If you haven't received your registration information within 2 business days please e-mail support@thumbsplus.com requesting your code. We will change your e-mail address in our customer database if we have the incorrect address.

If your ThumbsPlus default database has hit the 2 Gb file size limit you have several choices.

To check your current database size go to Database>Statistics "file size in bytes".

A.) You can start over with a brand new database (with or without this 2 Gb size limit).(Please see FAQ "ThumbsPlus Database choices")

B.) If you have important thumbnail data such as keywords, annotations, udf's, offline thumbnails or galleries that you do not wish to lose you can use a newer option that allows you to GREATLY increase the thumbnail count capacity on an existing database.

Instructions:

BEFORE BEGINNING, make sure that you have a backup of this current important database.

Database>Advanced>Backup

This way you will have it if anything goes amiss with this process. The ThumbsPlus database holds important data that you should always have a copy of. Databases can be damaged in several ways including a crash or a power outage while the ThumbsPlus database is open.

1. Before beginning this process the database needs to be smaller than the 2 Gb size limit. To increase your current database size you will first need to release some space that will allow this option room to do its job.

If there are thumbnails that are old that you do not need any longer, you can remove some of that data from the database. For example you may have some folders with test images that you do not need thumbnails of. Right click any folder of this type and go to "remove from folder". This will remove any thumbnails and the associated data for files you do NOT need thumbnails of. (You can always remove some thumbnails that don't have data attached to them and remake the thumbnails after this process has finished as well.)

2. Run a repair and compact of the database to remove space that has not been recycled. Database>Compact and Repair.

3. After the compact, run a JPEG compress on the database as well. DATABASE>JPEG COMPRESS (I suggest the quality to be set between 65 and 75.)

**Note that if you have removed a ton of thumbnails you may decrease the database size enough to continue to use your current database. In this case you can ignore the rest of these instructions.**

Increasing your current database size capacity:

Please note:

1. You can NOT stop this process once it has been started or the database will be hopelessly confused and you will have to restore the database from backup.

2. This database size increase process may take a VERY long time even if you have a fast system. You can start the process when you will be away for your computer for a few hours, or before you go to bed.

3. If ThumbsPlus is already open, close it and relaunch. If you have more than one database make sure that the database that holds all of your data is the database that is open.

Now to increase your current database size capacity, go to DATABASE>ADVANCED>Move Thumbnails to Files. (Image attached.)

4. Now you just sit back and wait. Again, the process may take a LONG time.

5. When the process is finished, do a another repair and compact of the database and then close ThumbsPlus and relaunch. Your database will now have the increased capacity of 6 to 7 million thumbnails and their associated data.

There is a lot of information about your ThumbsPlus database choices below but it is easy to understand and implement!

The default ThumbsPlus v10 database:

When you first install ThumbsPlus, the default ThumbsPlus v10 database that is used has a 2Gb size limit. (However, for quite some time there have been several ways to configure and/or use other databases or other database options that will allow for either a larger thumbnail count capacity - even when using the default database, or a database without a size limit. More information about this is copied below.)

The current ThumbsPlus default database is an MS Access database with a .tpdb8 extension. In ThumbsPlus v10 build 4015, the following (default) database settings allow for approximately 400,000 thumbnails (if you do NOT use the database option to "store thumbnails in files" that is described further down.)

160 x 160 sized thumbnailsTrue color (24-bit)JPEG quality 80%

The amount of thumbnail data that is assigned, (keywords, annotations, udf's, etc..) does have an impact on your database size as well. We have found that when there is a HUGE number of keyword references, this will increase the space used significantly.

ThumbsPlus PRO and Home Network licensed users with non-networked databases, (and those evaluating ThumbsPlus) can begin again with a new database that will store millions of thumbnails using either of the options below.

Creating a new database:Note that either of these new database choices give you the option to create larger, prettier thumbnails as well without "filling" the database too quickly. (Examples of thumbnail sizes are shown in the first attached image.

To create a new database go to Database>New.

1. Creating the NEW database using the "Thumbnails in files option".

Configuring a new database using the option to "store thumbnails in files" increases the thumbnail count capacity giving you the room to store between 6 and 7 million thumbnails and their associated data!

The option to store the thumbnails in files, instead of storing the thumbnails in the database itself, stores the thumbnails in a file that resides in the same folder that houses the database. This does increase the amount of space needed for the thumbnail/data storage, but gives you the ability to manage much larger quantities of thumbnails in a single database.

2. In ThumbsPlus v10 SP2 the option to create an SQLite3 database has been improved greatly. To create a new SQLite3 database, choose this option when creating a new database. This type of database has NO SIZE limit except for your amount of disk space. The database extension of a SQLite3 database is .tpdb8s.

There are many ThumbsPlus users that are choosing this SQLite3 database option - and using it very successfully - with the latest v10 build due to the many changes we have recently made. (Note that running multiple thumbnail creation threads at the same time may give errors that will not have an impact on the stability of your database but may be annoying.)

I have attached 2 images that illustrate the steps to take to create one of these new database types.

3. For corporations with ThumbsPlus Network licenses that have huge archives of images, there are database options other than the ThumbsPlus default databases of .tpdb8 (MS JET) or .tpdb8s (SQLite3). Advanced knowledge of client server database applications such as SQL Server, MYSQL, MariaDB, etc... is recommended for those that wish to use another client server database.

Please join the forums if you wish to see the attached images that illustrate certain options and features. If you do NOT want to be a member of the forums, just e-mail support@thumbsplus.com with your request for a certain image or images and I will be glad to send them your way.

When you join you will receive an e-mail that you must reply to in order to activate your membership. If you don't receive this confirmation e-mail message it is probably in a SPAM folder. (This e-mail confirmation will come from godaddy and not thumbsplus.com.)

If you can't find this e-mail, please let me know and I will manually activate your membership.

By default the option to use the Windows recycle bin IS selected. If this has been turned off - when you delete files in ThumbsPlus - the deleted files will NOT go to the recycle bin and will be deleted from your system!

Also, be aware that if the Windows recycle bin is full, does not have enough space allocated for deleted files on the drive you are in, or is not set up to receive deleted files, you can lose accidentally deleted images as well. (Image attached.)

In any of the cases above the only option would be to restore the files from backup. (I always recommend keeping backups of the ThumbsPlus database. (Database>Advanced>Backup) When backing up the ThumbsPlus database it is a good time to back up your image folders as well.)

When you move the mouse over a file (thumbnail) in the thumbnail view and popup tips are enabled, the thumbnail (if present) will be displayed as an image tip (similar to a standard windows tool tip). If you have unchecked thumbnails, under the Thumbnail Display section, in Options | Preferences - Thumbnail View, the image tips will display immediately on a mouse move. Otherwise, the standard tool tip delay is used before displaying the image tip. To configure when and how popup image tips are displayed, click the Setup button under Options | Preferences - Thumbnail View.